Mike's Mission - September 2007

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFF66" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c006e0dkfegl.gif"> <div>                          <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > Michael's Mission Page</FONT>      <IMG SRC="04e55390.gif" border=0 width="85" height="57" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                     California Santa Rosa Mission  June 2006 - June 2008    |   <A HREF="http://www.theHaslams.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.theHaslams.com"><U>theHaslams.com</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#009933" TEXT="#080000" background="03dbec00ddwnzy.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Front Page"><U><B>Front Page</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="latest_news.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Latest News"><U><B>Latest News</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="photo_album.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission Photo Album"><U><B>Photo Album</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="companions.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Companions"><U><B>Companions</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>=====================</B></div> <div> <A HREF="may_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission May 2008"><U><B>May 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="april_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission April 2008"><U><B>April 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="march_w008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission March 2008"><U><B>March 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="february_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission February 2008"><U><B>February 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="january_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission January 2008"><U><B>January 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="december_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission December 2007"><U><B>December 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="november_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission November 2007"><U><B>November 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="october_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission October 2007"><U><B>October 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="september_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission September 2007"><U><B>September 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="august_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission August 2007"><U><B>August 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="july_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission July 2007"><U><B>July 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="june_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike_Mission June 2007"><U><B>June 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="may_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission May 2007"><U><B>May 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="april_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission April 2007"><U><B>April 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="march_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission March 2007"><U><B>March 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="february_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes mission February 2007"><U><B>February 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="january_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission January 2007"><U><B>January 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="december_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission December 2006"><U><B>December 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="november_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission November 2006"><U><B>November 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="october_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission October 2006"><U><B>October 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="september_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission September 2006"><U><B>September 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="august_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission August 2006"><U><B>August 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="july_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission July 2006"><U><B>July 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="arrival.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Arrival in Santa Rosa"><U><B>Arrival in Santa Rosa</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mtc.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission MTC"><U><B>Departure & the Missionary Training Center</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>=====================</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mission.net/california/santa/rosa/index.php" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mission.net/california/santa/"><U><B>California Santa Rosa Mission Alumni Site</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>September 2007</B></div> <div> <B>September 24, 2007 - "Hey, I'm Back" - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Michael again apologized for not having the ability to send a full message last week. He indicated that the office Elders are moving down from upstairs into Mike's apartment. He said this should work OK, except for the requirement that we all shower within one hour. He also indicated that Elder Westbrook was emergency transferred into the office in place of Elder Blake.  Elders Haslam and Westbrook have now been together in the same zone for over half of their mission.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Michael wrote, "The previous week we worked pretty hard but didn't find any new investigators. We haven't found any in 3 weeks now.  This week Elder Blankenship was sick for 3 days.  He was a little sick on Monday but not too bad so we went to the beach and on Tuesday he barely wanted to move.  He basically had a fever and his lungs were inflamed which made it hard for him to breathe.  He was down for the count for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I went on exchanges for at least 4 hours every day to get me out and about".</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="07fab000.jpg" border=0 width="683" height="512" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5"></div> <div> For this transfer (which ends October 2) the zone will have just one baptism. Sister Carrie Osborn will be baptized on September 29th. Regarding Carrie Michael wrote, <I>"She is doing awesome and loves the Book of Mormon and the members and really sees this as something she wants in her life".</I></div> <bR> <div> Regarding their other contact Lynn Heater Michael said, <I>"Lynn Heater is doing all right.  He still has a lot of health issues and some members have been a little skeptical about getting him baptized because he couldn't really hold a calling or drive himself to church but last Sunday they told us that Christ would have him baptized nonetheless so we will definitely baptize him in October.  We're going to try teaching him at a members house this week too.   It should be interesting, but should help him retain the information".</I></div> <bR> <div> Michael indicated that he had so speak for 24 minutes at the Brush Creek ward last Sunday since one of the other speakers did not show up. He said,  "I just turned what was supposed to be 8 minutes into 24, not bad.  You get pretty good at "discoursing" on your mission".</div> <div> <B>September 17, 2007 - "Can't Write" - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Michael informed us in a very short e-mail sent on Tuesday evening (probably from a member's home) that he tried to e-mail Monday morning.  His attempt was unsuccessful because the servers at "myldsmail.net" were down.  They then went to the beach west of Santa Rosa for some rest and relaxation. They returned to Santa Rosa too late to retry the e-mail connection. In is very brief update he said, "I'm doing fine" and "Carrie Osborn will be baptized on September 29th".</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>September 10, 2007 - "Three Weeks in Santa Rosa" - </B></FONT>Michael wrote that this week he found the chapel that his great-grandfather built in Santa Rosa in the late 1940s.  The building is located at It's on 7th street and Beaver.  Today the building is a Masonic temple! Michael added,<I> "It's a really good building almost right in downtown". </I> </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="07b8a280.jpg" border=0 width="394" height="296" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Michael wrote, <I>"The great news is that Carrie Osborn is committed for the 29th.  She is so golden it's hard to believe.  She has read through first Nephi, a lot of Mosiah and other various chapters.  Carrie came to church yesterday all most in tears because her sister called her that morning and asked her if she was really learning about the Mormons.  She said, 'Yes I'm learning'.  Then her sister proceeded to tell her every false and vain doctrine that has ever been spread on the Mormons to her.  She called it a 'white church' and that you can only get to heaven if your husband says so.  You also are going to oppressed as a woman in that church.  And on and on and on.  That's how hard Satan works when they come close to the truth.  The great part is that she knew it was all false and said that she could feel the devil in the words her sister spoke".</I></div> <bR> <div> Regarding the other investigator Michael wrote, <I>"Lynn Heater is also doing well.  The MS kind of got to him this week and we were only able to teach him a little bit. We're going to try and finish teaching him this week, but if not we may be moving his date back a little.   A member that gives him a ride every week told us how he doesn't feel that Lynn is ready for baptism.  He doesn't understand everything yet and a lot of times members think they need to know everything right a way.  We'll see how that works out".</I></div> <bR> <div> Regarding missionary training activities Michael reported, <I>"This past week we had Zone Development council and for my talk we created the profile of a convert and discussed the attributes of the people we have seen baptized so that we can look for them in our investigators and determine if we should keep them or not.  So that should help us keep the good fish and let the bad ones go".</I>  </div> <bR> <div> Michael learned that the wife of the Bishop of the Bush Creek ward in which Michael serves is the aunt of Misty Monsen in his home ward the Midvalley 5th.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>September 03, 2007 - "Baptism Scheduled for September 22" - </B></FONT>Since it was "Labor Day" and the public libraries were closed, Michael resorted to the old technology of "paper and pen" to provide us information on his mission. He said,<I> "Things are going great here! Lynn Hanter who suffers from MS is going to be baptized on September 22. He has a strong desire to be baptized and we know it will bless his life". </I>He went on to explain that another investigator Carrie Osborn is also progressing well. She is a single sister with two young children. She came to church last week and her 4-year old had a great time.  She's been reading the Book of Mormon and asking lots of good questions, she even left a question on our answering machine. She has not set a baptismal date yet, but says, "I'll get there".</div> <bR> <bR> <div> President Stoddard attended the Santa Rosa stake mission correlation meeting and asked, "Why have not all the wards responded with their lists of five less active members to work with"? When their wasn't a good answer forthcoming he threatened to move the Zone Leaders to the one ward in the stake that has not had a baptism in over 18 months! Mike added that the ward is <I>"not very open to newcomers". </I>He also said, "I don't think he'll follow through until after the November transfers".</div> <bR> <div> A zone conference was held on August 30 that focused on "health issues". A doctor and his wife spoke about "the basics of eating right". Michael reported,<I> "I didn't feel very uplifted by it all". </I>Michael added that the month of September looks great, <I>"No transfers, no zone conferences, no zone leader councils or anything else, just pure missionary work including a lot of exchanges with the 7 Elder companionships in our zone".</I></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>